Dems struggle to unify on budget

Democrats think that having Vice President Joe Biden in the room as the lead negotiator will help them stop the Republican budget juggernaut.

But first Biden has a tougher task — unifying Democrats who have been wobbly in their budget message, divided on major votes and out of sync with the White House.

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The Democrats’ disarray has been evident at several levels. When the House on Tuesday passed a two-week spending extension, the party was split down the middle, with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California spearheading the opposition and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland favoring the deal — a divide that exposed once again the long-running rivalry between the Pelosi and the Hoyer factions in the House.

Senate Democrats have also struggled with an erratic response, first proposing a two-week extension of existing spending, then quickly embracing some modest cuts while failing to offer a long-term compromise. White House press secretary Jay Carney floated a trial balloon for a one-month spending extension, only to have Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada deflate it an hour later. In another breakdown a few days earlier, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer called the emerging Republican spending plan “a recipe for a double-dip recession,” as Reid was preparing to embrace the deal.

Perhaps most worrisome for Obama and his party is that they’ve shown no ability to rally behind a long-term budget proposal — even though the White House pitched its first offer Thursday evening. In another instance, Democrats were bouncing between messages — New York Sen. Chuck Schumer called the seven-month Republican spending plan “a recipe for a double-dip recession,” as Reid was preparing to embrace a two-week deal to buy more time.

“We haven’t yet found a common voice,” Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) said. “Eventually, the president will take the lead. I don’t know if the White House has a strategy for [the current spending bill]. If they don’t, the Republicans will be strengthened.”

Citing the opposition by 85 House Democrats to the two-week spending bill in effect, he complained, “This is not a time for gamesmanship.”

Many Democrats hope that they have stopped the bleeding with Obama’s Wednesday announcement that Biden will take charge of bipartisan negotiations to “find common ground on a budget that makes sure we are living within our means.”

That overdue action was greeted with relief by the president’s Capitol Hill allies, but Democrats are still wary about whether the White House will sell them out to avoid a government shutdown.

“The White House has to lead. Republicans now have all the cards in the House, and Democrats in the Senate face an almost equal obstacle with the 60-vote filibuster rule,” a House Democratic leadership aide said. “We had been unhappy with the lack of White House leadership. Now, we have a point person with Biden.”

Republican insiders have gleefully noted the Democrats’ apparent disarray and contended that it had strengthened their own hand in reaching a final deal. “Democrats have been negotiating with themselves and have bargained away their position,” a House GOP leadership aide said. “By forcing Reid’s hand, we are eating away at their negotiating leverage without giving away anything.”

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CORRECTION: Corrected by: Burgess Everett @ 03/04/2011 10:38 AM
Clarification: The story has been clarified to show that Schumer was discussing the Republicans’ longer term spending cuts when he referred to the possibility of a “double dip” recession.